Digging Out

The Philosopher and I went to Trinidad so that I could give a workshop and we could have a holiday. It was fantastic. But the month prior and now the few days after have been a whirlwind of trying to make heads or tails of inboxes, to do lists, etc etc. 

We were going to have a lot of travel time -- four total flights and all of the airport time that goes along with that. The trip home was 19 hours door to door, and that meant a lot of knitting time. I actively did not look up the rules for whether Trinidad would have an issue with wool and went.

You can see my three projects for the trip, although really only two got significant work and only one has much in the way of photos.  This is Awash with Color and I knit it out of Black Cat Fibers Etain in the Jewel of the Nile colorway. 

As soon as I saw this pattern, which has an unusual stitch technique allowing for pulling and stretching in a way that mimics dropped stitches, I knew this skein would be perfect for it. Pattern quickly memorized; it went everywhere. 

In a cab overlooking Port of Spain 

Pool side (without yarn, with adult beverage [not pictured])

From my hotel room 

Back at the pool for sunset 

By the time we were heading home I was becoming disgruntled. I had just spent a week knitting on this shawl on and off and it felt like the skein of yarn was no smaller! Of course I'd also managed to knit nearly 250 yards of another project but come on !  Also, what do you mean carrying it around doesn't actually equal knitting progress. 

And so there was dedicated effort. In the Port of Spain Airport and on our trip to Miami I focused and got a solid six hours of knitting in. I was nearly done when I realized I was not going to have enough to make it through the final rows and cast off and so spent the descent into Miami ripping back three rows, very carefully. 

We sailed through customs (Global Entry -- which also usually affords TSA Precheck-- is worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY. Update your passport and go sign up.) And there in Miami airport I cast off. I had about 15 yards left? 

We're home, but plunged back into the realities of work means I haven't had a chance to block it yet, but it is pretty fantastic. A lovely choice for that beautiful and crazy multi-colored shawl that you just can't turn into socks. And the yarn was lovely to work with -- 20% silk gives it a beautiful sheen in addition to the rich colors.